Tuesday, October 18, 2016

Report: Displaced Bidayuh villagers ill-informed about Bengoh Dam

The
construction of the Bengoh Dam located in Padawan, Sarawak, started in
2007 and completed in 2010. — Pictures courtesy of the Bar Council

KUALA
LUMPUR, Oct 18 — Bidayuh villagers received scant information about the
impact of the Bengoh Dam in Padawan that displaced about 1,600 of them
before their consent was obtained for the project, the Bar Council said.

The Bar Council’s Committee on Orang Asli Rights, which undertook a
fact-finding mission to Bengoh, Sarawak, from September 17 to 21 last
year, found that the affected indigenous people from four
villages — Kampung Taba Sait, Kampung Pain Bojong, Kampung Rejoi and
Kampung Semban — either moved to higher ground outside the Bengoh Dam
area or to the government’s Bengoh Resettlement Scheme (BRS) in Padawan.

“No formal communication was received by the villagers from the
contracting companies or the state government before construction
began,” said the Bar Council committee’s report released today.

“They were given verbal instructions to relocate or move to higher
grounds when the dam was close to completion, prompting protests which
resulted in the civil suit. There were attempts to gazette their lands
as national parks later, which contradicted with their earlier
application for recognition of native customary rights (NCR) to lands,”
it added.

According to the report, construction of the RM310 million Bengoh Dam
project, which was designed to secure water supply for Kuching and
surrounding areas up to 2030, began in 2007 and was completed in 2010.
The project was awarded to investment holdings company Naim Holdings
Berhad that appointed Sinohydro Corporation of China in 2008 to
construct the dam.Kampung
Muk Ayun (previously known as Kampung Taba Sait) is located near the
Sarawak Kiri River, reachable by a 30-minute boat ride from the Bengoh
Dam.

The Bar Council said government officials had told
villagers, back when the Bengoh Dam was mooted in the early 2000s, that
they would benefit from the dam and there was no need to shift from the
area, but they only needed to move further up above the water level when
their villages were flooded.

“Many of them did not object to the dam project as the impression given
then was that their villages would not be affected by the project,”
said the report.

“It is noteworthy that there was no official communication from the
contracting company or the Government concerning the dam to these
villagers. The villagers knew about the dam project through word of
mouth and could not identify the source of the information.

“In addition to that, much of the information they received were in
bits and pieces. During this period, they were still in the dark about
when the construction would start, which areas would be flooded, and
most importantly, were they expected to resettle,” the report added.

The villagers filed a civil suit in 2010 against the contractor Naim
and the Sarawak state government, seeking recognition of NCR lands, when
a local government minister reportedly told them in 2009 that they
would not be allowed to stay in their NCR lands even if their lands were
above the water catchment area.

According to the Bar Council, all Kampung Semban families moved to the
government’s BRS, but 49 families from Kampung Taba Sait, Kampung Rejoi
and Kampung Pain Bojong refused to do so and built new settlements on
the upper areas near their villages, 20km from the Bengoh Dam, called
Upper Bengoh.

“The affected Bidayuh villagers refused to move out as they do not wish
to lose their native customary rights over their ancestral land,
established through occupation by their ancestors since time
immemorial.

“Apart from losing their customary land, the Bidayuh were concerned
over issues relating to the loss of income and livelihood, and
compensation for the loss of their homes and property including their
farms,” said the report.

According to the Bar Council, the people living in the BRS chose to
move there because the resettlement had water and electricity supplies
compared to their former villages, with their compensation as an added
bonus. It was also closer to town, where they could get healthcare and
education for their children.Kampung Sting (previously known as Kampung Pain Bojong) is located further uphill from Muk Ayun, close to the mountains.

However,
they have reportedly not received the monthly RM800 allowance for cost
of living for three years. The three acres of land allocated to each
household was reportedly not sufficient either for a family of more than
six.

“These lands could not be used to rear animals. We have noted that few
of the villagers were employed. Most opted to work in the agriculture
land provided to them in the BRS and the rest were unoccupied with no
activities,” said the report.

The Sarawak state government reportedly tried to overcome the
villagers’ NCR claims by gazetting the area in 2013 as national parks.
The villagers filed for a judicial review of the gazette.

The Kuching High Court later issued a consent order in December 2014
for the 2010 civil suit that recognised 2,592 hectares of NCR lands, but
ruled that the affected villagers must vacate the NCR lands falling
under the Bengoh Dam Reservoir area.

The court also awarded compensation of RM3.14 million to 54 villagers,
which only took into account the size and condition of their former
houses.

“The compensation awarded did not include the value of farmed lands
such as corn, pepper and cocoa. Also, the compensation awarded for
farmed land was only per household and not for each husband or wife,”
said the report.

The judicial review of the proposed national park gazette did not
proceed to substantive hearing because of the consent order for the
earlier civil suit. The state government agreed not to proceed with the
gazette and the villagers decided to withdraw their judicial review
application.

The Bar Council noted that there are no schools nor mobile clinics in Upper Bengoh.

“The villagers in Upper Bengoh had to go through the journey of
crossing paths in the jungle, untarred roads and rivers to reach the
nearest health facility,” said the report.

The Bengoh Dam construction also reportedly split the Bidayuh community
between those who stayed in Upper Bengoh and those who resettled in the
BRS.The
government's Bengoh Resettlement Scheme (BRS), also known as Rumah
Mesra Rakyat, is less than half an hour's drive from Kuching by road.

“The
villagers do harbour some resentment towards those who they believed,
opted the easy way of resettling in the BRS and still maintain their NCR
to lands, while those who moved to higher grounds had to work together
to create new homes and go through the arduous court process to obtain
NCR to lands for all the villagers with no help from those who shifted
to the BRS,” said the report.

The report concluded that the government and construction companies
should undertake more efforts to consult the community before
undertaking any major projects that affect them.

“It is not right to impose external development patterns on these vulnerable communities,” it said.

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